Former Florida quarterback Graham Mertz tore his ACL during Houston's preseason opener against Los Angeles last week. The 25-year-old suffered his injury on a second-quarter scramble in the Texans' 27-7 loss to the Chargers, going 4-for-7 for 23 passing yards.
Mertz has since been placed on injured reserve as the team opted to sign veteran quarterback Brett Rypien. He's yet to see any regular-season action at the NFL level, spending the entirety of his rookie season on the sideline. The 6-foot-2-inch, 216-pound quarterback entered preseason third on Houston's depth chart behind C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills.
A former sixth-round selection, Mertz's career at Florida ended with a similar injury on Oct. 12, 2004, during an overtime loss to Tennessee. A broken collarbone shortened his 2023 campaign as well.
While with UF, the Overland Park, Kansas, native threw for 3,694 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Prior to arriving in Gainesville, Mertz was enrolled at Wisconsin, where he was among the highest-rated QB recruits in program history. In Madison, he would flash star potential but never showed enough consistency to elevate his draft stock.
His first career start was against Illinois, against whom he completed 20-of-21 passes for 248 yards and five touchdowns, setting a school record for competitions percentage (95.2%) in the process. He also tied the program record for TD passes in the same contest.
The string of injuries has delayed Mertz's NFL opportunities. While the talent is there, time may be running out for the ex-Gator to establish himself as the developmental No. 3 quarterback in Houston.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Ex-Gator Graham Mertz suffers season-ending injury in preseason debut